Support for suspended conductors.



. H. SC HAEFER.

SUPPORT FOR SUSPENDED CONDUCTORS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25. I9i6,

1,242,048., Patented 00. 2,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

@uwm/cop H. scHfiEFEK H. SCHAEF'ERq SUPPORT FOR SUSPENDED CONDUCTG'RS.

APPLICATION FILED MAR. 25. 19:6.

3,242,@%8 Patented 00%,, 2,1917.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- Smwutoz HERMAN scnnnrrna, or ASTORIA, NEW .YoRK.

SUPPORT FOR SUSPENDED C ONDUCTORS.

Specification of Letters Patent. I

Application filed Marches 1916... Serialifl'o. 86,739..

1/ b all whomz't may concern: 7

Be it known that I, vHERMAN SCHAEFER, a

citizen of the United States, residing at As-.

toria, LongIsland City, in thecounty of Queens and State of .New'. York,have in vented certain new and useful Improvementsin Supports forSuspended Conduc-.

tors, of whichthe following is a specifica tion, reference being had tothe=acc0mpany ing drawings. v p

This 111vent10nrelates to means for supe,

' porting conductors,- and particularly to means for supporting trolley.wires. or v con: ductors of like character.

The general object ofthis inventionis. to. provide a support forbareconductors including a straight line ear combined with a femalebell-shaped cap orhanger.

A further object of the invention is to provide a construction of thischaracter wherein the ear is formed in two portions or sections, namely,an ear. proper WlllClI; 9X2.

tends beneath andsupports the conductor for an appreciable distance anda trolley wire clamping cap sectionwhich fits the upper face of the earand is held down closely upon said upper face.

A further object of the inventionus to provide anear so formed that. thetrolley wireor other conductor may be readily laced 1n engagement withthe ear or-removed therefrom, and provide means whereby the trolley wiremay be clamped within.

a seat in the ear, said means beingshiftable out of its operativeposition to permit the detachment ofthe trolleyWire. I

A further object. of thisinvention is to provide an ear which maybeconnected to a bell hanger or without change connected to a double orsinglesuspension yoke or;a feed yoke or a suspension bracket and still;another object is to provide an earwvhicln may be used as asplicingiearhor as. means.

for connecting a feed wire tothe trolley wire. Other objects willappear. 'in the course of the following description.

My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein:

Figure 1 is ,atransversefisection ofa conductor support constructed. inaccordance withmy invention; p

Fig. 2 is afragmentary side elevation {Of the :support, thembellf andcone .not being} shown, the view being .partly ,in; section; I

Fig. 3 .is' a fragmentary .eleyation ofithc Fig. ,4- is a fragmentarytop" plan yiew of the cap piece 26;-

F ig .5 is a sile viewof a portion of this cap piece; 7

Fig. 6 is a top plan view of the clamp 30;

Fig. 7 isan under side plan view thereof; Fig, 8,1saperspect1ve vlew ofanother form of hanger with my mvention applied thereto Fig; 9 is aperspective view ofuanother,

form of hanger with In thereto;

y, invention. applied Fig. 10 is a side elevation of my improved.

ear partly in section; and

Fig. 11v is a longitudinal horizontal sec-i tion through the members23and 26.

Referring to thesedrawings, 10. designates the bell which is madev ofmetal oryother suitable material and at its center is formed with thesocket 12 bounded by thejoute lP'atcntedflct. 2,1917.

wardly extending annular flange 13 whose ,l

extremities are inwardly turned, as at .14. Atthe base of thisflange thebody of the bell isformedwithan inwardly extending.

fiange le. The extremities ofthe body 10 are provided with thehook-shaped span.v

wire-engaging lugs15. The span. wire '16 is adapted to be disposed inthese lugs,- and extend around the bellshap ed skirt formed by theflange 13.; 1 Disposed within the socket 12is, the cone 17. WVhile I.termthi's part 17a cone, itis to be understood that it isnotconicalzinj form but substantially cylindricalwith the outer. faceofthe side wall concavely depressedas at 18. Theinterior of the cone 17fisbored-and screw threaded for the-ireception of the; shank 19. The socket12 is intended ...to be filled with cement 20 whereby the member 17willbe held in place within the socket 12. The cone 17 may be ofinsulating material and, the cement 12 will also act as insulation ormayhavejpar-' tial insulating properties.

Thefear as it is termechwhich' supports the trolley wire 21,, comprisesthe shank 1 9 which is screw threaded and an elongated body 22 whichextendsat right angles to the axis of the shank and projectsdiametrically in opposite directions. The under face of this, body 22-is curved longitudinally andthe ends,}of the,,body, slightlytapen; Arch?ing ,over the upper face of the bodyZQfat its middle is the hub 23 whichextends transversely over the, body and p which directly connected, to.the} ha k l v 11 11 1? Cir stood, of course, that the portions 22 and 23of the shank are preferably cast or otherwise formed in one piece. Theupper face of the body 22 of the ear is transversely recessed, as at24;, so that the hub portion 23 arching over the grooved portion 22provides an entrance passage'25 whereby the wire may be entered into theear and seated in the groove 24. This is best illustrated in Fig. 1. Theend faces of the hub 23 are vertically grooved, as at 23, for a purposewhich will be later stated. (See Fig. 2.)

Coacting with the ear section 22 and provided for the purpose of holdingthe trolley wire or other conductor securely in place within the seat24: is a cap section 26 which has a length equal to that of the portion22 and a width somewhat greater than this portion and is tapered towardits ends and has inclined end faces 27. Extending vertically throughthis cap section 26 at its middle is a passage 28 which is elliptical inform and is adapted to receive the hub portion 23 of the car 22, asshown best in Fig. 4, this section 26 being cut away upon its un derface, as at 29, to accommodate the outwardly flaring base of the portion23,where it connects to the body 22, as illustrated in Fig. 5. The underface of the cap section 26 is longitudinally grooved, as at 26, thisgroove corresponding with the groove 24 so that when the cap is in placethe wall of the groove 26 will extend over the groove 24:. The shank 19passes entirely through the opening 28, and disposed to surround theshank and bear upon the upper face of the cap piece 26 is a clampingmember 30 somewhat rectangular in plan with rounded corhers and having aflat under face formed with the longitudinally extending recesses 31.The center of'the clamp 30 is formed with an opening 32 through whichthe shank loosely passes, and a 'nut 33 engages the shank and bears uponthe top of the clamp. This clamp, bearing as it does upon the cap 26,holds it securely down in place in on gagement with the trolley wire. Itwill be seen that the grooves 31 communicate with the space around theportion 23 of the car 22, as illustrated in Fig. 2.

The operation of the invention as a clamps it in firm position in thegroove 24:.

It will be seen that it is not necessary to detach the ear or hanger onthe member 17 naeaoae in order to attach. or detach the trolley wirefrom the suspension device. It will further be seen that the ear 22 hascontact over a relatively great length with the trolley wire so thatthere is no danger of strain on the trolley wire breaking it either fromthe hanger or support or breaking it at the point of connection with thehanger or support. Furthermore, there is no necessity ofsolder ing thetrolley wire in place or bending over lug's on the ears to temporarilyengage the trolley wire before it is soldered to the ears.

As before stated, the ear constructed in accordance with my invention isnot necessarily limited to use with the socket or bell disclosed in 1and. commonly used on trolley wire hangers, but it is equally adapted tobe used in connection with double or single suspensions or with feedyokes. Thus in Fig. 8 1 show the improved ear as connected with a singleyoke suspension, which single yoke is designated 35. This yoke has theordinary form and is provided with an opening at the extremity throughwhich the shank19 passes, the clamping nut 33 being disposed upon theextremity of the shank so as to bear upon the upper part of thesuspension hanger 35. This suspension hanger at its other end isbifurcated as usual and provided with the ordinary insulating turnbuckle36 whereby it may be connected to span wires or guy wires.

In Fig. 9 1 illustrate a double yoke suspension member, designated 37,having a medially disposed opening through which the shank 19 passes,the shank being held in place by the nut 33, as before stated. Both ofthese yokes are ordinary and well known and therefore require no furtherdescription. In Fig. 8 I show a modification of my ear which may be usedwhere it is desirable to connect span wires or guy wires to the ear,this construction being exactly the same as the construction previouslydescribed but the cap 26 being provided with cars 38.

The advantages of my invention are many. 111 all straight linesuspensions or hangers known to me, the trolley wire is solidly orrigidly secured to the car, as for instance, by inverting the ear andpouring solder in around the wire or by hammering the sides of the earinward around the trolley wire and bringing it almost to a knife edge.Now in case the trolley wire gets slack all the ears on the slacksection must be ripped 05 before the slack can be taken up, and that ofcourse destroys the ears and they are good for nothing but the scrapheap. l ith my improved straight'line ear it is only necessary torelease the nut 33 which will release the clamp 26, thus permitting theslack in the wire to be taken up, and after the slack in the wire hasbeen taken up it is only necessary to again turn down the nut 33 toagain urge the clamping member 20 into engagement with the wire. Furthermore, with the ordmary form of straight hne ear the edges of theear where theyare forced around the trolley wire are very thin and soonwear ofi, and when thisoccurs the ear is of no further use and thereforehas to be thrown away and an entirely new ear put in. "The ordinary earcan only be replaced at a cost of from 45am 50, whereas if the ear 22.of .my device wears out, which it will not do for a very long time, itwill only cost 15. Furthermore, the trol- 'ley wire maybe inserted orremoved from the ear very readily by one man. It is only necessary inapplying the ear, to open the earby turning up the jam nut 33, slippingthe trolley wire in place through the opening screwing down the jam nut33, and, assuming that the bell-shaped cap has already been applied tothe shank, springing the bell-shaped top on any cross span with the bellwrench in the usual manner. This takes less than five minutes to do,whereas other straight line ears must be screwed into the bell hangerfirst, then the bell hanger sprung on a span wire, then two men lift thetrolley wire into the straight line ear,

and then the lateral edges of' the straight line ear are pounded inwardby a hammer and anvil, taking at least ten minutes in order to do thejob, whereas with my construction only five minutes are lost and onlyone man needs to be occupied with the work.

As before stated, this ear is adapted to be used either as an ordinaryline ear either connected directly to the span wire as heretoforedescribed or connected to double or single suspension hangers, or it canbe used as a splicing ear. This use of the device is illustrated in Fig.11. The parts of the mechanism illustrated are precisely the same asthose illustrated in Figs. 1 to 7, the view, however, showing theadjacent ends of the trolley wiresections 21, these ends extendingupward through the grooves 23 and the space 28 and'beinq laterally bentand extending through the grooves 31 of the into one or the other of thegrooves 31, ex-

tending them down through the space 28 and into engagement with thetrolley wire 21.

A further advantage of my invention is evident when it is desired toremove a and again clamp the wire in place.

trolley wire from a portion of the system and replaceit with a newtrolley wire. In any one mileof trolley line there are about forty-fivestraight line ears. These ears are practically welded on the wire andwhen the old wire is removed these ears are of no value. With myconstruction whenit is desired to replace 'a'hne of wire it lsonlynecessary to loosen the nuts 33 of'the ears, remove 'theold wire,'shovein the new wire, A straight line ear constructed in accordance with myinvention of course does not have to be removed in order to replace orrepair the line wire or take up slack. Attention is also called tothefact that the opening 28 in the member 26 has its sides downwardlyflared so that when the member 26 is in place upon the shank of themember 22 the side walls of the member 26 will extend downward andoutward over the member 22 along its entire length so that they formprac tically skirts whichassist in shedding water and keeping waterat-this point from run-- ning down upon the trolley wire. In otherwords, this performs to a certain extent the same function as performedby the skirt 13 or etticoats usually found on the bells of insulators orcaps.

Having described the invention, what I claim is its body whereby asecond conductor may be passed through the clamping means and clamped tothe ear in electrical engagement with the first named conductor.

2. A hanger for electric conductors'comprising an ear having a shankformed with a conductor passage, the ear having a cond'uctor seat 'onits upper face extending through the passage in the shank, and aclamping member loosely surrounding the shank and extending the lengthof the ear and confronting said ear and adapted to clamp a conductorbetween the shank and the ear, the clampmgmember ,belng spaced at onepoint from the shank to permit the introduction of a second conductingmem ber into'engagement with the ear.

3. A hanger for electric conductors com prising support, a shankextending. at right angles thereto, a clamping member surrounding theshank and confronting the support, a clamping member disposed upon thefirst-named clamping member and having agroove upon its under faceextending to an opening in turn extending through the first namedclamping member to the hot tom thereof, and means for holding theclamping members in superposed relation to each other and urging saidclamping members toward the supporting member.

4:. A hanger for electric conductors com prising an ear having a screwthreaded shank, the shank adjacent its junction with the ear beingformed with a laterally opening conductor passage alining with the upperface of the ear, a bell including a screw threaded member to detachablyreceive the shank, a clamping member loosely surrounding the shank andvertically movable thereon and adapted to confront the ear and when inoperative position close the lateral opening in the shank, and a nutengaging the shank above said clamping member and adapted to hold theclamping member in operative position in relation .to the shank, therebeing a suflicient distance between the nut when in the last namedposition and the screw threaded member on the bell to ermit the nut tobe run up on the bell and permit the clamping member to be verticallyraised to a position to disclose the opening in the shank.

5. In a support for suspended electric con ductors, the combination witha bell, of an ear having a shank detachably engaged with the bell, theear extending longitudinally and at right angles to the shank and havingits upper face longitudinally grooved to form a seat for a trolley Wire,the shank at its junction with the ear arching over the groove, a capsection longitudinally grooved upon its under face and having a centralopening adapted to engage over the shank and surround and arch over theshank to provide an entrance opening to the seat, a rectangular capmember longitudinally grooved upon its under face and having a verticalopening through which the shank member passes, and a nut holding saidcap in place.

6. A hanger for electric conductors com prising an ear grooved upon itsupper face and having a hub formed with a passage parallel to the faceof the ear and with a slot intersecting said passage, a screw threadedshank extending upward from the hub, a clamping member having an openinglonger than the hub but having approximately the same Width as the hubwhereby to permit the introduction of conductors between the end face ofthe hub and the ad jacent face of the clamping member, and

means for holding the clamping member against the upper face of the ear.

7. A hanger for electric conductors com prising an ear having a shank,the upper face of the ear for its entire length having a conductorreceiving groove, a clamping member having an opening through which theshank passes and being shiftable toward and from the ear to clamp aconduct-or upon the upper face of the ear, the opening in the i of theear, a clamping member having an openin througn which the shank assesand whereby a second conductor may be electrically engaged with the earand clamped, means for urging the clamping member toward the ear, and asecond clamping member operatively mounted upon the shank and holdingthe second named conductor in clamped engagement with the ear and thefirst named clamping member.

9. A hanger for electric conductors comprising an ear having a hubextending upward from its middle, the hub being approximatelyrectangular, a shank extending upward from the hub, a clamping memberhaving an elongated opening through which the shank and hub pass, theopening having a width approximately the same as the hub but beinglonger than the hub to permit auxiliary conductors to extend downbetween the hub and the clamping member, a second clamping memberresting upon the first member and adapted to engage said auxiliaryconductors and clamp them in place, and means engaging the shank forforcing the clamping members downward against the ear.

In testimony whereof I hereunto aiiix my signature in the presence oftwo witnesses.

HERMAN SGHAEFER.

VVitn esses 2 PHILIP L. HAUs RUDOLPH BERBERIGH.

Gopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents,

Washington, D. G.

